My Recent Contacts
by nicosine
Summary: [au/twoshot/wessa] Tessa finds a telephone number, sandwiched somewhere between the pages of a library book, and decides to dial it. From there she builds a tight relationship with the charmingly eccentric, book-loving boy on the other end of the line— Will. What she doesn't expect, is for their paths to cross one day...
1. one

_**author's note:** hi everyone! i do realise that it's been a while since i've posted anything here on the TID archive, and so here's a short story, probably about 2 chapters long, for you to enjoy. it'll be something like outside the crayon box, but it'll also be something to mark the beginning of my 2k15 summer writing journey._

 _i'll have more stories up my sleeve, so i'm definitely excited about that!_

 _so without further ado, here's this lil wessa fic. oh, also, thank you my awesome beta reader clara, or embercrown (prev. the iron sister), as you may know her. you're amazing! :D_

* * *

...

Tessa was a book enthusiast.

The library was her second home. Having frequented the aisles, she didn't think there was a single shelf in the library that she'd not yet visited. Even the ones which were lined with massive dictionaries, or the ones filled head-to-toe with encyclopedias all written in foreign languages.

Today, Tessa found herself wandering among the aisle of classical novels, lost in the rows and rows of book spines. Occasionally she would reach out to get hold of a title that interested her. She'd placed a total of three volumes into her arms when her grey-blue eyes caught sight of another — _Wuthering Heights._

Quickly she scanned the back of the book. She'd heard good things of the novel before, but she had yet to see it for herself. Deeming the blurb intriguing, she placed it atop her pile of books and rounded the corner of the aisle. _Four's enough for today,_ she decided, feeling satisfied.

She stopped at the Starbucks, and soon after walked home with a cup of coffee and a bagful of library books. Greeting her brother at the door, she proceeded to then kick off her shoes and flop onto her bed for a mini reading session.

Tessa fished _Wuthering Heights_ from the bag and flipped it open. It opened at a random page, and at that it was where she discovered the little slip of paper, folded in half, sandwiched neatly between the pages.

She recalled one day at school, when she'd opened the door to her locker to see two pieces of folded-up paper tumble out. They were supportive, sweet little messages, scattered around the school at random, but her friends hadn't received any. Because of that, they had then proceeded to snicker over how love-lettery they'd thought the notes were.

Tessa unfolded the piece of paper. It was not a sweet message, nor was it a love note. She imagined the scenario, in which if she was to ever find one enclosed in a random library book. It would be weird, but still it would probably be worth giggling over.

To her bafflement, there was a series of numbers on the piece of paper. A phone number, Tessa quickly decided, as written, in clear print, was the string of phone digits. There was just that, and nothing else.

Tessa contemplated using it as a simple bookmark for this very book so that she wouldn't have much to do with it. Like everybody else, she was wary of the unknown. This person, if they were somebody seeking nothing more than a little bit of fun, was bold to put their phone number in a public library book.

Maybe somebody else had put it in there.

She rolled her eyes. If that was the case, both of those cases, then it was a brilliant choice, placing the number in a book such as _Wuthering Heights._ She wondered how long it had stayed in there, and why the particular book was the choice.

Shrugging both her thoughts and the slip of paper away, Tessa proceeded to actually read the book. The story was fascinating, really, and from the beginning was already as intriguing as she'd heard.

But still, the nagging thought of the anonymous phone number persisted. And so, after multiple hours, she decided to allow her curiosity to get the best of her. She enabled Unknown ID and began to dial in the number.

 _Whatever. You only live once._

The person picked up.

"Hello?"

It was a masculine voice, she noted.

"Hello," she dubiously returned his greeting.

"Is this…" he paused at the other end of the line. "I'm guessing that this is either a prank call, or the person who decided to check _Wuthering Heights_ out from the shelves at 3pm this afternoon. You have good taste."

Tessa was taken aback. She was not expecting that. "Are you a stalker?" she blurted out, perplexed and slightly creeped out. She didn't recollect anybody standing near her when she'd picked the book out from the aisle.

"Ah. You are the latter," the person replied, his tone holding a tinge of mischief. "No, I'm not a stalker. I simply lurk on the local library webpage."

Briefly, Tessa remembered making use of the search function on the said library webpage. She'd successfully located a book she'd wanted, and had, in addition to that, also been able to confirm that it hadn't been checked out.

"That may be considered as a more… subtle form of stalking, though," Tessa remarked.

"Perhaps," he replied lightly. Tessa detected amusement in his voice.

Suddenly, there was a flash of an image of a boy in her mind — one who was around her age, with the possibility of being a few years older. Tessa knew she was already imagining what it looked like if she were in his place.

"But you should have seen how surprised I was when I saw, online, that somebody had checked the book out! I was wondering if this phone call would ever come."

"Why'd you even put it in there?" Tessa asked him, curious.

"I wanted to have a chat with somebody, who perhaps would have enjoyed the book as much as I did. Speaking of which…" he began.

"That's a rather eccentric way to make connections," she mused, "Though creative. And unique, but risky."

"Two pros and two cons," he spoke brightly. "Compensates for each other! But really, it is difficult looking for someone who likes the same novels that I do. Not even on Omegle Interests."

Tessa snorted. How desperate was he? "Omegle? _Really?"_

"Yes," he said solemnly.

Her mouth spread into an amused smile. He was, frankly, hilarious. "Alright, sad library-webpage-stalking loner. I love books. You can talk to me, as I am as passionate about reading as you are, I guess."

She heard him laugh. "Don't pity me."

"I'm not!" Tessa protested, though in her mind she couldn't deny it. "Well, not really. I mean, if you're going on Omegle…"

"You know that feeling?" he interrupted. "When you're in the middle of a good series? And when you've got all your emotions bubbled up inside of you, they have nowhere to go?"

She nodded, even though he wouldn't know.

"Oh, yes, I call them fangirl attacks." Tessa was smiling. She wasn't sure if it would weird him out, but once she reminded herself that he himself was one like her, she shrugged and went along with it. "I might just be able to picture you in my head right now, despite the fact that I do not know how you look like."

"You can?" A hint of playfulness crept into his tone.

"Yes," she responded, the boy in her head wringing his hands in his hair. She wondered what sort of hair a boy like this would have. Ruffled, maybe. Unruly. He wore glasses, perhaps. "You can vent to people who are close to you, even if they don't have a clue what you say."

There was a pause for a moment.

"Alright," he muttered. "In _Wuthering Heights,_ Heathcliff—"

"No spoilers!" Tessa interrupted him.

"I wasn't gonna spoil it," he said. "You should not think that lowly of me."

She rolled her eyes. "Certain people I know are renowned spoiler dispensers."

"I swear, on the Angel, I'm not going to spoil the book," he replied earnestly. "However, there will be bloated, unintelligible speech."

He kept his word. For the next two minutes or so there was a lot of incoherent muttering, words Tessa couldn't make sense of. Instead she sat next to her phone, her back supported by the wall, laughing silently. Withdrawing her hand from her mouth, she turned to fetch _Wuthering Heights._

His mumbling stopped.

"Were you listening?"

"Yep!" Tessa responded cheerfully. "But I was reading the book, too."

She imagined the boy with the glasses and ruffled hair, smiling.

"Good. I shall leave you to your reading, then!" His tone matched hers. "Before I leave, though, you must tell me your name."

"I'm Tessa," she said, grinning.

"Will," he said in a way of response. "A pleasure to meet someone like you, bookworm Tessa. How long do you think it will take you to finish _Wuthering Heights?"_

"You too." Tessa looked up, thinking. "It's a 300 page book, so… one day and a half? Two?"

"Great," Will responded. "Expect a call from me in a day and a half. Perhaps even earlier."

"You don't have my number," Tessa reminded him. She told herself that he was scheduling another call because he had nobody else to talk to. After that came another thought, reminding her that she did not have any idea who he actually was.

"Right," he said.

There was a pause.

Tessa wasn't keen on giving him her personal number, and he seemed to sense it.

"Right," Will chuckled, repeating the word. "I will expect a call from you in a day and a half."

She couldn't help but smile.

"Bye, Will."

"Bye, Tessa."

...

Tessa had just finished both the school day and 263 pages of _Wuthering Heights_ when her eyes darted again to her bedside table. The piece of paper, with the phone number, crowned the top of the remaining stack of her library books.

It had already been around two days since the phone call, she noted.

Tessa hadn't been true to her predictions. It would take her more time — maybe another day — to finish the book, even though she wouldn't be reading it at a snail's pace.

Still, she found her hand wandering towards the slip of paper. She swiped it off the stack of books, but then hesitated when she was halfway to dialing in all the numbers. This Will hadn't proven to be anything but a telephone catfisher, but still it wouldn't hurt to talk to and laugh with somebody who could understand her book problems as much as she, as it seemed. Even if he was a catfisher, or not.

With the Unknown ID preference still switched on, she went ahead and proceeded to call him.

"Piss off, Gabriel," he hissed the moment he picked up.

Tessa frowned, startled. "Um… What?"

"Tessa!" he spoke her name jovially, switching gears right before she was going to hang up. Tessa paused, her thumb hovering over the _End Call_ button. "My apologies for that. I thought this was another prank call. You see, the first one arrived half a day earlier, which was when your call was due, so after that I decided not to still be expecting yours."

She rolled her eyes. "Sorry for being half a day late."

"No worries," he said. "So, how'd you find the book?"

"Oh, I'm not done with it yet," Tessa replied, leaning back against her wall.

"Yet still you decided to phone me," Will said. She could practically hear his grin through the call.

Again she gave a roll of her eyes. "I would have been a full day late. How does that sound?"

He laughed at the other end of the line. "How is it so far?"

She paused, thinking of what she wanted to say. "It's alright, I guess. The book continues to surprise me. I have no idea what to make of Heathcliff."

"Is he not a psychotic bitch right now?"

"Yeah," she replied. "He is. But still we know very well where his anger stems from."

"Love," he announced dramatically, "Drove him insane."

They continued like this for a while, exchanging their thoughts, swapping their opinions. At the end of this particular bonding session, Tessa was pleased to discover that they had much of what they thought in common. They knew a lot of the same books, too — mostly classic — or, well, in this case, _classroom_ works of English literature.

It made sense, she supposed. Who others their age would discuss the characters in _Jane Eyre_ for anything other than English class?

Tessa smiled at the thought.

A good fifteen minutes later, Tessa and Will had gotten to the point where they had moved on from their books to actual introductory conversations. He had friends, she gathered — actual friends, though none shared the same interests as Will himself did.

He specialized at memorising literature and also, absolutely abhorred ducks.

 _Why?_ she'd asked him.

He'd told her that they were beastly creatures that were not to be fooled with, and then had continued to tell her of an encounter he'd had with them, on a sunny day in Hyde park.

They'd attacked him with their beaks, apparently. Giggling, Tessa swapped him some of her information — she liked coffee, dance sessions with her brother, and despised chocolate.

He'd gasped at that, clearly horrified, and had proceeded to deem her a monster.

"How old actually are you?" Tessa asked him after the dumb realisation struck her — she didn't actually know how old he was, after all this talk. In her brain, though, Will was not older than twenty. "Truth to be told, you kind of talk like somebody from the nineteenth century, with some exceptions."

Will laughed. "I'm eighteen. And no, it's just that I speak in a simple, sophisticated manner."

 _Eighteen,_ Tessa pondered. _Not bad._ "Great. I'm a year younger."

"I hope it brings you relief that I am not, in fact, one century old."

"You're not? What a pleasant surprise." She smiled. "You're about to graduate?"

"Well, yes," he replied. "I am in the middle of my final year of high school."

"Hmm," she hummed. "Where do you plan to go after that?"

"This topic," he drawled. After another pause, he said, "Brown, I'm planning."

 _Brown University,_ Tessa contemplated. She'd began looking at universities lately, planning ahead for herself, and had definitely spotted the prestigious Brown University among the selection. It was an amazing opportunity.

"You seem to be the type of person who would begin thinking about universities when you finish fifth grade. So what of you, Tessa?"

"I've only recently been looking at universities," Tessa responded drily, "And I'm not too sure yet," she admitted. She had a list laid out for herself, given her 4.0 GPA, but she had no choices she was leaning towards.

"Great!" he said cheerfully. "Ultimately you'll choose Brown, and before you know it, we'll be the best of friends."

Tessa _hmm'_ ed. "We're talking about one year and a half later, Will."

"If we're not good friends by then," Will replied.

She grinned. For an unknown reason, even the immediate thoughts of a catfisher did not seem to faze her.

Eventually she had to go, having spoken to him for over an hour. Tessa finished her homework and her dinner before making the decision to complete the book.

The next day, she went ahead and called him. And after that, the next.

They had humorously lengthy chats, Tessa realised four days later, with a content smile. They never seemed to run out of things to say to each other, and already she hoped they never would.

* * *

 _ **author's note:** i really hope you enjoyed that! this isn't the end of this story, since i'll have a chapter 2 coming up. do please give your comments, suggestions & thoughts in that review box below! x_

 _p.s. if you are either eilyx __or emmaherondale15, hi guyse !111!_


	2. two

_**author's note:** hey, everyone! i'm back with the ending of this story, and holy crap, it's 3.2k words long. i'm really, really tired right now, so yeah i'm really glad that i'm finally finished with writing the ending, since it really did bug the hell outta me :'D but yeah, thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews you left on the last chapter. they made my day!_

 _i'm gonna stop talking now, lmao. here is chapter 2 for you all to enjoy! x_

* * *

 _..._

"I'm reading a new book," Tessa announced just as Will picked up on the other end. She seated herself onto her bed, getting cozy on her favorite pillow-covered spot. It was, however unofficial, her place to nestle in when she received phone calls from her virtual friend.

"Really?" he answered. Tessa had a feeling that she knew what was coming. "Now, is it that modern trash they actually consider literature?"

She was right. After five-and-a-half months of conversing with him, Tessa was rather familiar with the way he thought. She'd reached the point where she had the ability to guess at what he would say next — and often so, she was right, for Will was predictable — _yet_ unpredictable at the same time.

Tessa rolled her eyes in exasperation. She knew he had a mild distaste for modern contemporary, but still, she decided, somebody like Will could not be so narrow-minded. "It's a genre, Will, like any other. There are good ones, and there are, well, crappy ones."

"From my experience—"

"You've read a total of two books that belong in the genre," Tessa interrupted. She'd read those specific two books, too, and sadly had to agree with him. Both of them had been crazy roller coaster rides.

He sighed. "What's it called?"

It was indeed a modern contemporary novel. She told him of the title, read him the blurb on the back, and left him the rest to decide. The book was about a girl, a boy, a vacation, and of Paris, the city the vacation took place in.

Will left comments as she read, neither of them being entirely good nor exactly bad.

"I've never been to Paris," Tessa admitted. "I've always wanted to go there, though."

"Neither have I," he responded. "Surprising, as I have already lived eighteen years of my life."

A side of her lip quirked up. "Another one to add to my 'list of things to do before I turn eighteen'."

"Maybe we could go together, Tess," he started, and Tessa's heart gave a sudden, strange leap — "So there will be an opportunity to visit the exact place where Sydney Carton was guillotined. Together, of course."

She groaned, and covered her face with a hand.

"You are insufferable."

She could hear the grin in his voice. "Imagine it. I could scare away all the French passersby with my declarations."

Tessa did. She visualised not only the silly scenario Will had mentioned, but instead she too imagined travelling with a dark-haired, blue-eyed boy, sipping coffee with him, wandering through museums and old, worn bookshops with him. She imagined standing atop the heart of Paris, enjoying a panoramic view of the city with him beside her. Tessa was, without a doubt, sure that he would be seeing, and feeling, what she saw and what she felt. She and him, they were alike.

It would definitely have been easier if she actually knew precisely what he looked like, but still.

It sounded marvellous.

"Tessa?"

She jolted from her reverie. "Yeah?"

"Thinking about me again, were you?" he inquired, cheekily.

She blinked. "Well, you _told_ me to."

"Good point," he responded. "But do please consider it, Tess."

"Yeah, sure," Tessa replied casually, with a smile at the nickname he'd given her. However, there was a feeling in her gut that she was taking it more seriously than Will probably did.

The feeling disheartened her, when it shouldn't have had to.

...

"Earth to Tessa. Eaaarth to Tessa," a voice droned, shaking her from her daydream.

"Yeah?" she turned, giving Sophie her attention. Her friend had been talking to her earlier on, and she had, subconsciously, drifted away into pleasant thoughts.

Thoughts which, unsurprisingly, involved Will and the conversation they'd had last night. Well, _conversation_ was one way to put it. After having gotten into a spat with her brother (which was something that almost never happened in the household), Will had cheered her up, and had done one hell of an awesome job with it.

She was fine now, and had already fixed things up with her brother.

Briefly then, she wondered about whether there actually was a time, within the past few months, when Will hadn't been hanging on to her every thought. _Maybe not._

It was just a little bit hard to imagine daily life without him.

"Tessa!" Sophie said again a second time, waving a french fry back and forth before her eyes.

"So— Sorry," Tessa responded, her mind back in the the bustling school cafeteria. "What were you saying?"

Her friend wasn't on her previous topic anymore, though. "What are you thinking about?" Sophie inquired instead, her hazel eyes glinting with curiosity.

"Somebody," Jessamine responded quickly for her, flashing Tessa a grin. Instantly she shot Jessamine a cutting glance from across the table. "It's obvious."

Tessa rolled her eyes, dipping a french fry into a pool of ketchup. These were the very people who had laughed and gushed over the "love notes" she had received. Of course.

Nevermind the fact that Jessamine was actually correct, though.

...

She'd finished the Paris book, some days later, when her ringtone blared through the atmosphere of her room. It was around 5pm, an hour after she'd gotten home, so immediately Tessa knew who it was.

She lifted her phone, smiled, and accepted the call from Will.

"Hi!" she spoke brightly.

"Hey, Tess," he said her nickname in that way of his.

"So, I finished the book," Tessa said. "It wasn't at all trashy."

"Oh, no," he feigned fear. "I see myself reading it in the near future. Very near future."

She laughed. "You won't regret it. Now, I know you're a sucker for romantic, heroic stories, so it'll be a good one for you."

There was a short pause on the other end of the line, before he spoke again. "Alright, Tess. I trust your judgement."

She grinned, for she knew she'd gotten her way. There were some good books, belonging in the same genre, that he'd flat-out refused, so Tessa was definitely pleased with the current situation. She repeated the title to him, and waited as he went away to scribble it down.

"How's Nate?" Will asked.

Tessa rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. "I took your advice, and it worked. He says he wants to meet you."

"Really?" he spoke. "It would be a pleasure."

Tessa began to reply but was then interrupted as Will raised his voice to a shout. _"Nathaniel!"_

"Ow!" Tessa exclaimed, covering her ear. "He can't hear you, you _oaf."_

Will was laughing, that delightful, rumbling sound she lived to hear.

"You and your stupid antics," she mumbled.

He stopped laughing, and all was quiet for a moment. However, she knew that he was smiling on the other end, too.

"Tessa?"

"Yes?" she shifted on her bed, crossing a leg over another.

"Since you have requested for my advice, which worked, I must, right now, request for yours."

"What?" Tessa frowned slightly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he responded swiftly. "I have not gotten into a fight with my brother, since I don't have one. Well, a biological one. But… I have recently been asked out by a girl, and I replied with yes."

She stopped short, just as the temperature in her room gave an abrupt drop. "Huh?"

"Uh, dating advice?" he said meekly. Noticing her failure to give him an instantaneous answer, he pressed, "Perhaps that was one of the most idiotic things I have ever said. Well, to you."

 _Yes, yes it was._

Tessa's mouth was suddenly dry. Pushing down an unanticipated swell of displeasing emotions, she stuttered and mustered a response. _"Oh —_ Um, I don't know. I mean, I've never, um, dated anybody before. But —"

"Tess," he started.

"Be yourself, I guess," she finished, in an attempt to sound light. Her features spread in a weak smile.

Will, with his silly anecdotes, his stupid, corny, unbearable jokes, his witty book references and occasionally brilliant, philosophic thoughts — _and_ his ability to make her laugh anywhere, anytime.

But it most likely would be all for somebody else, that somebody being a _girl._ The thought was an unwelcome one.

Another unwelcome thought caught her off guard. Maybe it was never just her, it never had been. Maybe. Probably.

Tessa lifted her mug and took a sip, relieving her parched mouth with water. She was being selfish, and she knew it. Why should it have bothered her so much, anyway? It had been one simple sentence.

It was only then, Tessa realised, with a sinking feeling, that she _liked_ him. She'd had been aware of it for a while now, but had never gotten herself up to actually admit it. She liked him, in a different way than what was proper. Will was somebody on the other end of _telephone conversations._

She didn't even know his last name.

"Thinking again, Tess?"

"Oh." Again she snapped out of her daze, at the sound of her nickname. _Will he give her a nickname, too? Does he already have one for her?_ "Yeah."

"Thank you, by the way," he said. "For the advice. If I work with that, though, it is guaranteed that I will either scare her away, or charm the pants off of her. There is, really, no in-between."

"Or both," Tessa uttered.

"Come again?" She could hear the grin in his voice.

"Or both," she repeated.

"Like I said, there is no in-between."

Tessa gave a little half-smile. Will was charming in his own way, after all, but he had yet to figure it out. She doubted he ever would. She could, only then, begin to wonder if the girl he would meet was shallow.

A dark, selfish part of her hoped she was.

...

Tessa left the house, at 5pm, to return her library books.

Will wouldn't be available for the phone call today, he'd informed her, for he would currently be on his date. How convenient.

Maybe it had been a wrong decision to leave the house, especially to head to the library. Inwardly, Tessa flinched, but promptly she shook it off. What had become of her now? Would everything and everyone remind her of him?

With an arm wrapped around the Paris contemporary novel, Tessa stopped at the Starbucks halfway to the library. She walked past a seated couple and joined the line of people.

Her thoughts still of Will, Tessa grabbed her coffee and turned around. It was when she properly saw the boy, who was one half of the window seat couple. He had dark, unruly hair, tumbling over his forehead and down towards his eyes, which were a shade of nighttime blue. He was handsome, tall, his features elegant.

Like an idiot, Tessa stopped in her tracks. Something, she didn't know _what,_ made him familiar to her, even though she was absolutely sure that she'd never once seen him before. The name she could associate to his face —

 _Not possible._

 _But it was._

She knew her daydreams of Will would, from now on, have his face in it.

Tessa's eyes darted to the girl. A pretty, petite brunette, her green eyes wide and adoring, fixated on solely the boy. Passion. Infatuation. Absolute devotion.

It took Tessa a small moment to realize that he was staring at her as well. Her eyes flickered away from his girl, her head ducking slightly. She felt a soft blush creeping up her cheeks, and so hastily she willed it away.

She thawed after a few seconds, gave a small shrug and continued on her merry way, though she was still blushing. _Not possible. Nothing special. They are simply a regular couple, like the ones you see all the time._

Her thoughts were now concerned with Jessamine, and how she would immediately act upon a situation like this. She would, definitely, insist on snapping a photo of him to save in her camera roll. _"Take a picture,"_ Jessamine would probably say. _"It'll last longer."_

Tessa grinned.

She was about to brush past the couple and head towards the door when the sound of her name, spoken like a question, made her pause again.

"Tessa?"

She turned.

She had not expected her name to come from the boy's mouth.

His exquisite blue eyes were trained somewhere below her face — _her book,_ she realized with after a small moment. Her book. Her Paris book, the library book which she was about to return. The library book, which she'd told Will she was about to return.

"Um," she stumbled, "Do — Do I know you?"

A wondrous look crossed his features. "Tessa," he said again, his full lips parting in a broad smile. "It's you. Is it you?"

Her grey eyes were wide. "Will?"

His smile spread wider, his blue eyes gaining a spark.

Tessa stood there, awestruck. She had no idea what she was expecting, really. He was _there._

What a _coincidence._

The girl, his _date,_ was watching Tessa, her green eyes hard, no longer glazed over in sheer adoration. "Will, who is she?"

He stood from table, took three strides towards her and pulled her into an embrace.

Tessa returned his gesture after a moment, trying not to let his cologne distract her as she placed her arms tentatively around his neck. In her mouth she felt words bubble up — words she'd wanted to say to him, special, careful, selected words. Stripped of worry, she then faded into extreme relief, and joy.

It was as if he was a lost friend of hers. She realized, then, that she'd found him.

Tessa withdrew her arms from his neck after a while, for they were standing in the middle of a bustling coffee shop, hugging. There was no doubt that she wished to stay longer, so much longer in that moment. Perhaps even forever.

They went to the library together, so that Will could borrow her contemporary novel.

"I didn't realise you would be _this_ tall, you know," Will said, _in person,_ grinning as he reached out to ruffle her hair. She revelled in his smile — it was big, bright and real.

Just like their future.

Tessa snorted. _Hilarious._

After that, they ended up wandering the aisles of the library, and for the first time Tessa realised how great it was to have company. If it had been anybody but him, though…

"Sorry I took you away from your date," Tessa muttered as they rounded a corner. "Sorry to her, too. We just left her there. Maybe we should have asked her to join us."

She was, clearly, opposed to that, but still she said it for the sake of it.

Will wrinkled his nose, which she, _uh oh,_ found adorable. "She hates reading. I was trying to talk to her earlier, but my attempts were futile. Besides, I have another date now, don't I?"

Flushing, Tessa swatted at his arm. She didn't say anything in response, though.

His smile was mischievous. "Tess?"

"Coincidental — Friendly — get-together is more like it," Tessa replied, hiding her deepening blush as she turned away from him. She stood on her tiptoes to retrieve something from the shelf.

"If it must be," he chuckled.

 _Wuthering Heights_ was shelved at the same place it had been that fateful day, five-and-a-half months ago.

"If I were you, I would have re-borrowed it multiple times," Will said, coming over to peer over her shoulder. "What a life-changing book."

Tessa smiled, rolling her eyes. "My life for better, and for worse."

She'd definitely made the right decision to head out of the house today.

...

Summer had kicked in, and school was out. Will was going to Brown University, like he'd told her.

They no longer had conversations only on the phone. Instead, they spent whatever time they could meeting up with each other, talking about everything they loved.

Honestly, it did take a while getting used to. But she wasn't surprised to find that she, like how it had always been on the phone, found joy in his company. Her ever-growing crush on him posed as a problem, though.

Her friends, of course, had noticed. They'd requested to meet him, her "secret boyfriend" from Alicante High, the other school in town, but she hadn't made any promises.

Today, they were meeting up at a park near Tessa's house. They were sprawled across the grass, a pile of books sitting on the picnic cloth beside them, sunlight shining on their faces.

"Tessa, do you see that guy over there?" Will's voice cut through her thoughts. She was, for the hundredth time the past month, startled by the sheer clarity of his words, for they weren't transmitted through a phone call.

She lifted her head, and instantly saw who he was talking about. Somebody with curling brown hair stood nearby, a polaroid camera raised to his face, concealing the majority of his features.

"Hi!" Tessa called above the rushing of the stream. "Are you taking pictures of us?"

The young man walked over to them, the camera dangling off his neck. "Oh, sorry if I'm interrupting something. But I'm doing a project for a photography course, and that is to accumulate self-taken photos of, well, lovers enjoying themselves."

Her cheeks went bright red. "We're not lovers."

Will, on the other hand, responded with, "You've gone down the innocent route to interpret 'lovers enjoying themselves', have you?"

Tessa blushed again.

The photographer laughed. "Well, compared to some of my friends, yes."

There was a soft click as a polaroid photo slipped out from the dispenser. He held it out. "Do you want it?"

Tessa took a good look at it. It was a nice shot of them, relaxing by the stream. She was leaning towards Will in the photo, a small, blossoming smile on her lips.

Will slipped it into his jeans pocket in one deft motion, grinning up at the photographer in thanks. "I'll keep that one, but you are free to take another."

He nodded at Will. "That'll work. Thank you!" Then, he turned to her. "Does the lady agree?"

"Uh," Tessa started, her face half a smile, half a grimace. "Sure. Do we… pose?"

"Do whatever you want!"

Tessa turned back to Will as the photographer backed away from the two of them. There was something on his features, something tentative and gentle tugging to broaden his smile.

"So… We pose." She almost snorted at the idea.

"Well, I think we should give him something."

"Give him what?"

"Well, you know, there's something I've been wanting to do for a while, Tess," he remarked. "Something perfect for this occasion."

"Yeah?" She was nervous, for — _Oh — Is he going to —_

His cerulean eyes darted up before he tucked her hair back and leaned in. Slowly, surely, he pressed his lips against hers.

Something sparked inside of her. Thoughts, memories, and emotions began swirling around in her mind, then — her first conversation with him, with his fascination for classic novels and his library-stalking tendencies, of the time when she'd phoned him at 2am, asking of his opinion on the words that had, out of the blue, popped into her head, of when he'd spent an entire twenty minutes reading her jokes he'd gotten off some crap Comic Sans website, yet had set her laughing for hours. _All of that, down to this._

She smiled, winding her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. There was a _click_ of a camera in the distance just as he smiled against her lips. Tessa felt the sparks in her chest turn into full-blown fireworks, then, for she knew that they were the two main characters sharing a passionate, perfectly-written moment, within a beautiful, joyful ending scene.

* * *

 _ **author's note:** i hope that this wasn't too cringey. but yay for wessa wooooo_

 _the kiss scene up there would not exist if it weren't for my amazing beta reader/best friend, embercrown_ _(clara), so tHANKS DUDE for the continuous friendly reminders, motivation, and nutella jokes. oh, and thanks for being there for me all tHE TIME!111!_

 _do please review. i would love to hear your thoughts on this story:D_

 _p.s. yes, that sydney carton guillotine scene actually is canon._

 _see you all again soon! x_


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